Standing Strong
by TheGemMaster44
Summary: HIATUS "We've been hiding for too long. It's time to fight back!" Steven shouted to the cheering crowd. "It's time to take back what's ours!"
1. Prologue

Theme Song: _Empty Spaces _By: Pink Floyd

TheGemMaster44 Industries presents:

_Standing Strong _

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Prologue: The Shot In The Dark

_December 12th, 2018... (Steven's POV)..._

_Just a block away. _I thought to myself as I watched two soldiers beat a woman to death. _I can do this. _I was paranoid that I would be discovered and executed. One wrong move and that would become reality. _Alright. Just go slowly... _I began to walk slowly towards the intersection. "Johnson." One of the Soldier's radio said. "There is another Undesirable in the area. Make sure you find him." "Yes sir General Floyd." "And bring him in alive, I want to make sure this one suffers."

_Oh no_. I thought. _I__'ve got to hurry. _With that I started moving faster. "You!" I heard a soldier yell. _Damn._ I thought as I stood completely still. I was still in the shadows so I was confused on how he saw me. But as he came over he bypassed me and headed towards a man.

The soldier pulled out a Night Stick and started beating the man. I continued forward to my objective. "Steven." I heard my earpiece say. It was Garnet. "Go ahead Garnet." " I'm at the podium at Marcus's side. You have the "Package"?" "I got it. I'm almost at the vantage point." Good. We need to take out Floyd here at the execution." _  
_

"I'm setting up the "Package" now. I'll watch for the signal. Out." I reach into the sports bag I had and pulled out a 50. Caliber Sniper Rifle. After I assemble it, I aim for Marcus. I can't wait to get this over with. Nobody has more hate in General Marcus Floyd than me. He has the only woman I love hostage, he killed my best friend, and he's about to execute 4 of my fellow Gems: Amethyst, Pearl, Topaz, and Aquamarine.

I wait for Marcus to get to the height of his speech before I take the shot. He's trying to gain support by making people fear him. He's killed countless people and Gems. Marcus wasn't the type who messed around. If you screwed something up under his command, you would never live to tell the tale. I cannot tell you how much failure-intolerant he is.

"These outcasts are a disease to society, and this Earth! I am telling you all, we must eradicate these free-thinkers! These, outcasts! These, monsters!" Marcus's speech was taking a toll on the people.

"And kill anyone who affiliate with them! Though, I am not a bad man. We can torment them as the human race is a superior species." "I don't think so General." Pearl said. "Oh look, their primitive minds can withstand english. What's your game Gem?"

"Primitive? Floyd we are _much _older than you all. We have seen the early days of the Universe." Then she spit on Floyd's boot. "that's General Floyd to you! And I'd thought that you _would_ have the nerve to disrespect a human General. If you think you're so tough, break free of your restraints."

Pearl struggled to break free from the ropes that held her to the pole."I thought this would happen." Floyd cocked his pistol and put it to Pearl's head. "Think you're so tough now?" Then a gunshot was fired.

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**_Sorry for the short Prologue. But:_ Well, what do you think of my new story? And before you ask, this is NOT the trilogy based off of the Batman Arkhamverse. This is a different AU. This story was inspired by Batman: Arkham City, listening to Pink Floyd The Wall album a few times, Return From Limbo By: UnknownSalvation, and I'll Make It By: SpaceWonder368. This will be a story that goes back to the beginning to repeat itself. And I will make a cover for it that will be released on DA soon. (I hope.) **

**General Marcus Floyd was based off of many Batman villains that appeared in Arkham City: Two-Face; Hugo Strange; The Joker; The Riddler; Ra's Al Ghul (Sort of); and Victor ****Zsasz. So until next time, Peace! ;-)**


	2. Act I: Chapter 1: Murder on the Beach

**Alright here is Chapter 1 of Act I. Starting 4 years back...**

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Act I: Chapter 1: Murder on the Beach

_May 7th 2014... (Steven's POV)..._

Yay. I beat it again. I thought sarcastically.I have played Batman: Arkham City for hours and I have actually beat it 4 times in a row while waiting for The Gems to come back for their search mission for Garnet's father Zirconium, who had stayed here for some time. Connie is out-of-town, I've been in a fight with PeeDee recently, and Dad has more business than usual.

*Sigh* _I guess I'll just search the beach for something interesting. _ I grab my shovel and head out to the beach. So far, I have found $3.67, a scratched Skyrim disc, two Sprite cans, a rusty bayonet, and many many rusty and worthless silver necklaces.

Then I heard this: "No. No! What are you doing with that-" and Multiple gunshots. Then this: "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Next complete silence.

Then I heard footsteps. The attackers headed to what looked like a Corvette. Then they sped off. Before they passed the hill, I saw an Insignia on the door that looked like a GemStone being smashed by a hammer.

I then walk over to where this person had been executed. I was horrified when I saw the corpse. It had pale blood flowing out. And next to this person was a smashed Cubic Zirconium Gemstone. _A Cubic Zirconium? _*Gasp* _ Is that who I think it is? _

Then the corpse emitted a blinding light and vanished. _My god. Oh- _Then I fell on my knees and vomited. But something caught my eye. It was a tape recorder where Zirconium's hand was. I picked it up and turned on the recording:

_Stop! Stay right there! What? I said stay! *Thud* Ow! Hey! Put your hands in the air! You're coming with us, Gem. I'm not going anywhere. Then I'm afraid that we will have to kill you. General's orders. General? Hey! No. No! What are you doing with that- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! *Recorder stops*_

_Man. _I thought. _Poor Zirconium. _I then gather up the bits of Zirconium's Gem and head back towards the house.

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_A few hours later..._

The Gems warped in a few hours after I found Zirconium's corpse. *Sigh* "Another failed search." Garnet said in a depressed tone. "Is everything ok Steven?" Pearl said to me. "What do you have?" I open up my hands and show the Gems the bits of Cubic Zirconium. "Steven? Is that-" Yes. I'ts a shattered Cubic Zirconium." The Gems didn't move an inch.

"Guys?" I asked. Pearl and Amethyst walked off to their rooms without saying a word. Though, Garnet stood as if she was being watched by a rabid wolf. "Garnet?" I asked. She hadn't been this brain-dead since she was entranced by Meat Beat Mania. I was a little creeped out by now so I went back to my Xbox 360. An hour went by and Amethyst walked out of the Temple.

"Hey Steven. Garnet hasn't come to reality yet huh?" "Why is she like that? Usually if a person loses his/her family member the person is usually crying." "Oh Steven, you have much to learn about Garnet. When she is much beyond the point of crying her eyes out, like right now. She goes through a pattern: She is only like this for a couple of weeks. Then she spends another week in her room and than is back to normal."

"Oh." "Come on Steven, let's go get some doughnuts and leave Garnet to be miserable." Then we headed off to The Big Doughnut to get some.

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_Another hour later... In Pearl's room... (Pearl's POV)... Mother By: Pink Floyd plays._

I sit in my room to trying to forget about when my mother died. But learning of Zirconium's death, the memories come back. Zirconium was Garnet's last family member beside her Schizophrenic brother Jade who attempted to kill rose while the latter was pregnant with Steven.

I was only 17,000 years old when it happened. I had met Amethyst some years back and we were inseparable friends. One night, I was touring this city on Earth with Amethyst called "Paris, France". And we rented a hotel room that we shared. Though we got thrown out after Amethyst beat up a steward who thought we were lesbians and insulted us rather unforgivably.

We had run away from Crystalia together to escape getting drafted for the Gem Civil war so we slept on the streets. The next morning there was a mysterious figure leaning against the wall. Thinking he was a pervert, I pretended to be asleep.

Sadly, I might as well have been pretending to be a paranoid insomniac pumped up on caffeine compared to Amethyst. Gems don't need sleep but Amethyst sleeps as if she is dead. "I know you're awake. Just listen to me, I am a Crystal Gem with urgent news." "Who are you and what news do you have?" "I'm Garnet and I have news about your mother Sapphire." "My mother?" "Yes. I'm afraid that, your mother, was killed in action last night. I saw it in person."

My heart sank after hearing this grim news. "What?" "My condolences Pearl. She was a good fighter and friend." Garnet was my mother's friend during the war. The latter introduced me to Garnet a few years back. Back then, I didn't trust Garnet. But now, I trust her with my life. After that I became heavily depressed and didn't leave Earth. Me and Amethyst grew apart over the years.

Then we got in an intense argument where these statements broke our friendship _way _beyond repair: "Pearl, all this moping around is no good for you _or_ me!" "You don't know what it's like to lose a family member!" "Maybe I know but this may be a good thing because your mom never liked me! She was a pain!" Then she covered her mouth in regret to what she just said.

Then that's where a part of my mind broke. "Get out! Now!" "Pearl, I didn't mean-" "GET OUT!" After that, I never saw Amethyst again for 3,000,000 years. And that's the story of how I lost _my _last family member.

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**Finally! This chapter took 2 days to write. (Mostly because of errands and laziness.) Please note, in my main line of stories and AU's, I will call the Gem Home Planet: "Crystalia". Anyway, how did you like the chapter? Who were the people who killed Zirconium? What did you think of the end of Pearl and Amethyst's relationship? Was this chapter great/lousy/awesome/terrible? I want your feedback! So member of or non-member, any review is welcome. Even flames. (I am desperate for feedback, NOT fame.) So, yeah, until next time, Peace! ;-) (P.s, The cover is available for viewing on DA now. So go check that out pls. ;-) ) **


	3. Chapter Act 1: Chapter 2: Marcus Floyd

**Need... To... Write... Not writing for a long time to me is like mental torture to me. I crave feedback... NEED. TO. WRITE!**

**(Sorry about that display, but here is chapter 2 of Act 1)**

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Act I: Chapter 2: Marcus Floyd

It had been 4 weeks since Zirconium was killed by the two men on the beach. Garnet has overcome her mental state and is now in a deep depression. Zirconium has been memorialized and the Gem bits were stored in the ancestor shrine next to Rose's totem. Everything had seemed to go back to normal today. For about five minutes. A week ago, another Gem named Jasper had come to stay. She was Zirconium's sister and she needed to get away from Crystalia for a while.

Now _she _had gone missing and the Gems set out to find her leaving Steven behind once again. out of fear in seeing the men who killed Zirconium again, he stayed in the house this time. He was in the middle of beating GTA V when he heard screaming. It was a woman's yells. They sounded, _familiar. _Realising what was going on, Steven grabbed a knife from the kitchen and snuck outside.

He spied on the scene going on down in the beach below. He saw Jasper tied to a pole and a man walking up to her with a gun in his hand. The men who killed Zirconium were there also. At least Steven thought.

"Jasper. the next target on the list. Target, #3. For your crimes against humanity, I sentence you to death." "No! Please no! I beg you! I have a family!" the man placed the gun to Jasper's temple. "I once did too, though they didn't end up too good." Steven looked away as the man pulled the trigger. In an instant Jasper was dead. "And another one bites the dust." One of the soldiers said with a chuckle.

Steven saw in horror as the soldiers beat Jasper's corpse. Then the corpse emitted a blinding light and disappeared leaving a Jasper Gemstone in it's place. Steven dropped the knife and walked down the steps. He walked towards the man.

"Why did you do it?" Steven whimpered. the man turned around and almost had a heart attack. "Ahhh! Uhh, kid, what the hell are you doing here?" "I want to know why you killed her!" "She was a bad woman, now beat it!" "No she wasn't! She was a sweet, kind, innocent Gem! And you killed her! Just like your men killed Zirconium a few weeks ago!" The man had a look of surprise. "You, know about that?" "Yes! Zirconium was a loving Gem also!" "Listen kid, if you don't tell _anybody_, what you saw here, I will let you keep your life." the man said as he put the gun to Steven's head.

"Go ahead! Pull the trigger!" Steven said as he looked away. "Uhh, sir?" One of the soldiers said. "We can't kill that kid. If he has parents they will notice he is gone and they will come looking for us." The man put the gun back into his holster. "Damn. Well kid, my name's Marcus Floyd. General, Marcus Floyd. Now don't tell _anybody _about this, or I will be back for you. Ya hear? Good." Marcus walked away with his soldiers to the same Corvette with the insignia.

_Maybe I should tell the truth. Or do I want him back for me? Does he know I'm a Gem? _Steven pondered over what General Floyd had said. _Maybe I should come clean. Nahh, I am not ready to die._

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_A few hours later..._

"Oh my god Steven! Is this true?" Amethyst asked the boy who was done telling the story of Jasper's murder. "Yes! I saw it with my own eyes! And to prove it, here is Jasper's Gem." Steven pulled the Gemstone out of his pocket.

The Gems stood in horror as Steven explained what Marcus floyd had said. "Marcus Floyd?" Garnet asked. "Oh no. not him. Ohh, I knew this day would come." Garnet ran to her room as if all hell was breaking loose. "I have a question." Steven said. "Why is Marcus Floyd so important to Garnet?" "Oh Steven, that's a _long _story for another time." Pearl said "Come on! I'd like to hear it!" "Alright. Now listen closely, this is one of Garnet's deepest, darkest secrets.

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**Wow, what is Garnet's secret? What is the truth behind Marcus Floyd? What did you guys think of this chapter? Was this chapter good/bad/epic/terrible? Come on! I want your feedback. So hit that post review button as hard as you can (After writing your review of course) and tell me what you thought. So until next time, Peace! ;-)**


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